JTV settings and Helix Native

[davidgitar]

I've got a Pod Pro HD  X and am considering an investment in the Helix Native software. I've been looking for information in the manual and elsewhere that would let me know whether Native can preserve settings of the Variax family of instruments per patch as the Pod Pro and Helix appear to to be able to do and I've yet to find an answer to the question. Can anyone here shed some light on this question please?

 

Thanks!

[silverhead]

No. Helix Native has no way to communicate with the JTV guitar.

[soundog]

Wouldn't that be cool though? Maybe through the Ethercon/USB interface Workbench dongle thingy into the Variax? I wish it were so.

[silverhead]

I’m not sure what this would accomplish. Helix Native is a plug-in; it applies to a pre-recorded signal. How would storing Variax settings in a HN preset affect the pre-recorded signal? If you used a Variax for the original recording all the Variax settings and modelling are already baked into the recorded signal.
 

I think what you’re wanting is a Variax plug-in; let’s call it Variax Native. It would operate on a pre-recorded signal that is the raw piezo output from a Variax or any other piezo-equipped guitar, captured before the Variax modeling does its work. The Variax modeling software would run as a plug-in on your computer. Note that the Variax does not currently output the raw piezo signal.

 

This would be a new plug-in product from Line 6, not an expansion of Helix Native. Probably a good suggestion for Ideascale though I suspect it’s already been there for years.

[soundog]

Thanks, Silverhead, makes sense. I use a lot of odd tunings and custom Workbench-created guitars when songwriting/recording. For a given song being worked on, when a DAW project is loaded I just wish that Variax was set automatically to a known state, (along with the usual Helix Native preset/settings). The "pre-recorded" Variax guitar tone could then be committed "to tape" and used for subsequent Native tweaking.

 

Yeah, I know Workbench is the software to use to manage the Variax presets, but I change those a lot and Workbench is a royal pain to wire up and use. Trying to remember which tuning and guitar preset is where based on the Variax knob labels and pickup selection is not much help. Or ... "where did I leave that piece of paper where I wrote down which Variax setting I was using on "The Crook Who Gave Me Covid"?

 

I love the way Helix hardware stores Variax presets and settings, and still wish Native did the same.